Beginners Guide to Truck Festival
True talk; sometimes the big festivals are exhausting. If you are eyeing up the Readings, The Ts and the Glastonburys of 2016 and sighing at the thought of elbowing your way through hordes of revellers or trying to buy tickets in a hyper inflated market, you’d be forgiven for maybe patching the idea and just blasting some tunes from a hifi in your back garden. While we understand your hesitancy, dear reader, such extreme measures are not your only option. Enter Truck Festival; “the Godfather of the small festival scene.”
There really is a lot to love about Oxfordshire’s little outfit; these guys have been acting as the self styled Robin Hood of the festival scene since its inception in the late 90’s, challenging the takings of major festivals whilst keeping an emphasis on emerging new talent, giving their food takings to local charities and allowing all comers to enter with their own food and drink. Freedom, inclusiveness, top quality acts and costs that don’t break the bank. What more could you want?
What is particularly impressive about Truck festival is how it has managed to retain its music dedicated vibe for so long and with such success. Don’t let the size fool you; Truck turns 18 this year, making it a grizzled vet in industry terms yet its managed to stay comparatively free from the corporate bloating that so often plagues popular festivals. We Are Full Fat have been handling the PR for Truck - who also handle the powerhouse alternative fest options of No Tomorrow and Sonisphere - so you understand that Truck features among the select few ‘don’t miss opportunities’ to those for whom the music always comes first. To speak of Truck’s own credentials, they’ve boasted Main Stage performances from the likes of Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro, Two Door Cinema Club and the XX. More often than not, before it was cool.
The line up this year is an absolute buffet of up-and-comers with a hearty seasoning of cult legends Manic Street Preachers plus a smattering of the beat stylings of Jurassic Five. Catfish and the Bottlemen and Kodaline are coming round to blast the anthems also, appearing during their meteoric rises in popularity to headline the fest that is known for giving the cream of the crop talent the leg up it needs to shine. Additionally when you are taking a sweaty break from the deluge of live acts? You’ve got tonnes of handpicked, locally sourced food stalls and vendors to choose from that cater to all tastes. And lets not forget, if you want to bring your own food and drink supplies then thats all totally fine, the good folks at Truck will facilitate.
With that mind, check their page out here to get a better idea of whats on offer. Unfortunately, their ‘payment plan’ ticket options ( a really nice service where they allow folk to pay for the tickets in monthly instalments to avoid the big one off costs tickets often are). Currently the tickets are set at £86.50 for a full weekend camping ticket which is an absolute steal compared to the weekend camping offers of other major festivals. The only downside is that day tickets are not on offer, rumoured to be because they were not a popular enough option to be worth implementing. The happier side of this is its a testament to the fact that those who go have no interest in missing out on anything that Truck has to offer. Ensure you are not one of them, friends, and we’ll see you in the crowds!
By Kyle Cairns